PRACTICUM AND INTERNSHIP

The PRACTICUM (CSL 624) involves both small group and individual supervision by faculty and site supervisors. Under supervision, students will provide approximately eight hours per week of professional counseling services. 

The Internship (CSL 625 AND 626) normally consists of 600 hours of
professional counseling service spread over two semesters (20 hours per week each semester) including 240 hours of direct service to clients. The internship involves supervision at the internship site by an appropriate mental health professional as well as small group and individual supervision by a faculty supervisor. 

Most students complete their internship requirements over the Fall and Spring semesters of the second year. Students may also elect to begin their internships during the summer between their first and second year in order to complete their internship requirements in the Fall semester of the second year. 

In making practicum and internship placements, the program attempts to match the experience, skills, and interests of the student with the needs of the practicum or  internship agency. The program assumes the responsibility for arranging for practicum and internship placements. It is the student's responsibility to prepare a résumé or curriculum vitae to submit to a prospective practicum or internship agency and to have a personal interview at the agency, as part of the practicum or internship assignment process. Students are welcome to help develop new placements to meet their special interests or needs if they wish. Final decisions about practicum and internship placement are made mutually by the student, the program, and the agency. The course, CSL 626: Internship in Counseling II, which is intended for the Spring semester of the second year, includes a "capstone experience" designed to culminate and integrate the student's professional preparation as a future counselor. The students enrolled in this course will write and present an integrative paper describing their own theory of counseling along with a formal counseling case presentation. 

As is customary, students are expected to pay for their own liability insurance and to provide their own transportation to the practicum and internship sites.